A Fresh Green Leaf (Ino x Male Reader)
by Zukurinfu
Summary: A story about a young boy who learns what it means to become a splendid ninja. This story follows the male reader as he grows up in the hidden leaf village, eventually becomes a ninja and goes on dangerous missions, all the while battling his emotions.


**Hey guys, this is my second fanfic (I know, it's been a long time) and I've made quite**  
 **some improvements to my writing style. I hope you like this story, because it is one that I plan on expanding a lot.**  
 **There's some romance coming in the later chapters, but for now I want to focus on the build-up of the story itself.**

 **On a side note, I'm re-writing my Frozen fanfic, because looking back at it, it's a real mess**  
 **and while the writing isn't bad, the structure and how I wrote it is just horrendous,**  
 **so it's something to look forward to. Let me know if you like this story, and if I should continue.**

(Y/N) = Your name

 **[12 years ago, During the attack of the Nine-Tailed Fox]**

"It's getting through the front lines!" Hiruzen exclaimed, signing Torifu to go on the offensive. "We mustn't let it breach the village walls!".

The ground shook as the nine-tailed fox let out a bone-chilling screech,  
immobilizing all but the most powerful shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves.

"How big is this thing?!" Koharu asked, frightened at the demon fox standing over 100 metres tall.

"Stay calm and follow my movements, we need to hold out until lord fourth gets here." Hiruzen ordered.

"Maragi, I want you to go check on your wife and make sure she's alright, we can handle it from here".

Maragi's wife was pregnant with a baby and going into labor this very night.

"I-I'm on it lord Third" Maragi said doubtingly. "I just hope lord fourth is gonna be back in time.. before this gets even more out of hand".

Minato Namikaze was the fourth hokage of the hidden leaf (Hokage literally meaning Fire Shadow).  
The hokage is the most powerful ninja in the whole of the land of fire, and most everyone respected his will.

"Go, Maragi!" Hiruzen yelled.

"R-Right.. But I'm not out of this fight yet, sensei." With these words, Maragi left his comrades and sensei  
to look for his wife back home, now far into labour.

He approached the house slowly, listening carefully for any sounds that might be out of the ordinary.  
When he got to the door he could hear his wife, Hachira, yell at the midwife to do a better job.

"Hehe, I guess she's doing alright, just as bossy as ever I see." Maragi whispered with a smirk on his face.

He slowly entered the house, making sure to take off his shoes at the front door, then made his way upstairs  
before knocking on the bedroom door.

"WHO IS IT?! I SWEAR IF IT'S YOU MARAGI, I'LL STRANGLE YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!" Hachira was furious at her  
husband for leaving her to fight on the frontlines on such a momentous night.

Maragi hesitated before slowly turning the doorknob and taking a peek inside. "Good evening dear, is everything going according to plan?"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OKAY TO YOU?!" Hachira now even more furious than before, ordered the midwife to send  
her husband downstairs, as she didn't want him to see her like this.

"I'm going, I'm going" Maragi said with a confused look on his face.  
"First she gets mad at me for leaving, and now she's angry for checking up on her… Women." he sighed.

Maragi walks over to the porch, suddenly he gets blinded by a bright flash of light, followed by a loud bang. A huge explosion,  
debris flying everywhere, just a few blocks away.

The nine-tailed fox had fired a gigantic chakra-infused ball from its enormous mouth, obliterating everything it made contact with.  
Bodies filled the streets and painted them red, a gruesome sight.

Maragi rushed back up the stairs and stormed into the bedroom, where Hachira was now holding her baby with tears running down her red cheeks.

That baby.. is **you**.

"Congratulations, it's a boy!" the midwife said as she shook Maragi's hand.

Maragi ran over to the bed to hold his wife, whispering to her: "Honey, we need to get as far away from here as we can,  
we have no idea how long it's gonna take lord fourth to get here, by then this whole village could be.." He stopped, there was  
another explosion, a bit further away now.

"I'm exhausted.." Hachira said, her voice had weakened significantly. "Just give me.. a few more.. minutes."  
Every word she said seemed to require more and more energy.

"Miss Hachira?" "Hachira wake up!" the midwife, who was a medical ninja, rushed over to the bed to check Hachira's vital signs.

"What's wrong, is everything alright?" Maragi's voice sounded worried.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to step outside." The midwife insisted.

"What is going on with my wife, tell me!" Maragi's voice was now filled with desperation, scared for his wife's life,  
he refused to move a muscle until he knew more.

"Her vital signs are weak, her pulse is dropping rapidly, she's used too much energy. I'm gonna try to stabilize her,  
I need you to wait for me outside" the midwife's hasted words only worried Maragi more.

He exited the room, leaving his wife in the hands of a trained medical ninja.

 ****30 minutes later****

Maragi was sitting down against the wall, holding his head in between his hands, eyes watery from the thought of losing his wife,  
when the midwife came through the bedroom door.

"And?" Maragi asked hastily "How is she? Please tell me she's gonna be okay."

Another explosion in the background, Shinobi running through the streets trying to fend off the attacks of the demon fox,  
who by now had breached the city walls and destroyed the eastern part of the village.

"I'm sorry, Maragi.. Your wife.. She didn't make it." The midwife said softly, tearing up at the sound of her own words.

"..." Maragi felt his heart drop. "W-What.. What do you mean?" He said, clearly in denial about his wifes death.

"She went into cardiac arrest, I tried to resuscitate her.. but it was too late. I'm sorry for your loss."

Maragi felt his knees getting weak as he dropped to the floor, breaking down in tears. He screamed at the gods  
to express his anger and grief, but there was no answer.

After he had calmed down a bit, he stood up, and with a determined look on his face, he ordered the midwife  
"Take my son, and bring him to safety. Get him out of here alive!"

Before the midwife could answer, he rushed off into the streets, heading in the demon fox's direction.  
When he arrived at the front lines, it was pushed back by at least 500 metres.

"You're back!" Hiruzen exclaimed with an astonished look on his face. "How is Hachira doing, is everything alright?"

"She's gone, lord Third.. She died shortly after giving birth to our son." Maragi explained, struggling to keep his tears in check.  
"And I'm not planning on letting her die in vain, I'll keep my son safe.. for as long as I can."

Maragi closed his eyes, cleared his mind and focused his chakra "Eight Inner Gates, first gate, gate of Opening, release!"  
"Second gate, gate of Healing, release!" "Third gate, gate of Life, release!"

Torifu had fought alongside Hiruzen, and had a confused look on his face "Uhm.. lord Third, do you have any idea what he's doing?"

"He's opening the inner gates, By opening the chakra limiters known as the eight inner gates, one could achieve power beyond even  
the hokage's, but it comes at a price: If someone were to release all eight gates, that person would die." Hiruzen explained.

Maragi turned to face his two comrades "Don't worry about that, lord Third. I can only open the first three gates.  
I've never cursed my lack of power as much as I do now. But if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that I won't go down without a fight. Here I go!"

With blinding speed, Maragi managed to get closer than anyone to the giant fox, unleashing a flurry of attacks.

"Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" within seconds, over a thousand shuriken were sent flying towards the fox,  
with numerous shuriken striking the naked eye of the fox, who cried out in anger, sending a shockwave that stopped  
the rest of the shuriken, and propelled Maragi into a stone wall.

"Maragi!" Torifu yelled as he made his way towards his injured comrade.

"I'm alright, it seemed worse than it was." Maragi looked up towards the demon fox "If that doesn't work.. I'll have to give it everything I've got"

"What do you mean, Maragi?" Torifu asked.

"I'll have to use my signature move, you remember it don't you? It's the same one I used against you last time we sparred,  
but I held back at the time." Maragi asked with a smug look on his face.

"Oh yeah, I remember never sparring with you again after that, it left me sore for 2 weeks, couldn't even lift my chopsticks,  
so I had to have a nurse feed me." Torifu complained.

"From what I remember, you didn't have much of a problem with that." Maragi replied.

Embarrassed, Torifu gave the ok for Maragi to use his technique "Go ahead, while the beast is distracted by Hiruzen."

Maragi put his hands together to form the hand signs known as Boar, Ox and the earth release sign "Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!"

The ground under the demon fox began breaking apart, spiraling in on itself. The fox struggled to maintain its balance and  
eventually the ground got a hold of its hind legs, pulling the beast down, allowing every shinobi in the area to unleash  
a barrage of attacks and techniques, in an attempt to weaken the demon that lay before them.

Maragi walked towards the now grounded nine-tailed fox at a slow pace. With a wicked smile on his face he drew his kunai  
"I will protect my son. I will defend the hidden leaf until I die. Nobody can stop me, not even you.."

"Look at you, pathetic creature. Brought down by my hand, and now you will perish." Maragi raised his kunai to unleash  
another shadow clone projectile technique, when the beast opened its mouth. It had been charging another chakra bomb  
inside its mouth, which now came flying out at an incredible speed.

Maragi froze, everything went silent. His eyes opened wide, he tried to scream, but there was only more silence.  
He was dead and he knew it, there was no way of escaping this, it was already too close.

His mind was racing, thinking back to happy memories: When his mom would kiss him goodnight every evening,  
The first time he saw his wife 15 years ago, the day he was assigned to his first ninja team,  
going on their first official mission, climbing the ranks of the shinobi.. and finally, having a son.

As soon as the orb of pure chakra made contact with Maragi's body, it went up in flames, spreading from the point of impact, towards his extremities.

"My only regret.. is that I won't get to see you grow up.. please (Y/N), make me proud. . . ."

After these final thoughts, his body turned to ash and got carried off by the wind.


End file.
